IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i14p8550-d861783.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Perceived Information Distortion about COVID-19 Vaccination and Addictive Social Media Use among Social Media Users in Hong Kong: The Moderating Roles of Functional Literacy and Critical Literacy

Author

Listed:
  • Luyao Xie

    (Centre for Health Behaviours Research, JC School of Public Health and Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China)

  • Edmund W. J. Lee

    (Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore)

  • Vivian W. I. Fong

    (Centre for Health Behaviours Research, JC School of Public Health and Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China)

  • Kam-Hei Hui

    (Centre for Health Behaviours Research, JC School of Public Health and Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China)

  • Meiqi Xin

    (Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China)

  • Phoenix K. H. Mo

    (Centre for Health Behaviours Research, JC School of Public Health and Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China)

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, distorted information about the COVID-19 vaccination is widely disseminated through social media. The present study examined the association between perceived information distortion about COVID-19 vaccination on social media, individuals’ functional and critical literacy, and addictive social media use (SMU), as well as the moderating roles of functional and critical literacy in the association between perceived information distortion and addictive SMU among social media users in Hong Kong. A web-based, cross-sectional survey was conducted among 411 Chinese citizens from June to August 2021. Findings showed that after adjusting for significant background variables, including age, gender, marital status, education, occupation, and income, functional literacy was negatively associated with addictive SMU. In addition, significant moderation effects of functional literacy and critical literacy were also observed, such that a positive association between perceived information distortion on social media and addictive SMU was significant among participants with lower functional literacy or higher critical literacy. Findings highlight the importance of improving functional literacy in addictive SMU prevention for social media users. Special attention should also be paid to the potential influence of critical literacy on addictive SMUs.

Suggested Citation

  • Luyao Xie & Edmund W. J. Lee & Vivian W. I. Fong & Kam-Hei Hui & Meiqi Xin & Phoenix K. H. Mo, 2022. "Perceived Information Distortion about COVID-19 Vaccination and Addictive Social Media Use among Social Media Users in Hong Kong: The Moderating Roles of Functional Literacy and Critical Literacy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-13, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:14:p:8550-:d:861783
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/14/8550/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/14/8550/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Deighton, John & Kornfeld, Leora, 2009. "Interactivity's Unanticipated Consequences for Marketers and Marketing," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 4-10.
    2. Zaichkowsky, Judith Lynne, 1985. "Measuring the Involvement Construct," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 12(3), pages 341-352, December.
    3. Chiao Ling Huang & Shu-Ching Yang & Chia-Hsun Chiang, 2020. "The Associations between Individual Factors, eHealth Literacy, and Health Behaviors among College Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(6), pages 1-13, March.
    4. Leena Paakkari & Jorma Tynjälä & Henri Lahti & Kristiina Ojala & Nelli Lyyra, 2021. "Problematic Social Media Use and Health among Adolescents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-11, February.
    5. Panagiotopoulos, Panos & Barnett, Julie & Bigdeli, Alinaghi Ziaee & Sams, Steven, 2016. "Social media in emergency management: Twitter as a tool for communicating risks to the public," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 86-96.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Harrigan, Paul & Evers, Uwana & Miles, Morgan P. & Daly, Tim, 2018. "Customer engagement and the relationship between involvement, engagement, self-brand connection and brand usage intent," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 388-396.
    2. Kick, Markus, 2015. "Post ≠ Post: An Experimental Study on Corporate Brand Posts on Facebook," EconStor Preprints 182507, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    3. Inwon Kang & Deokhee Cheon & Matthew Shin, 2011. "Advertising strategy for outbound travel services," Service Business, Springer;Pan-Pacific Business Association, vol. 5(4), pages 361-380, December.
    4. Peng Cheng & Zhe Ouyang & Yang Liu, 0. "The effect of information overload on the intention of consumers to adopt electric vehicles," Transportation, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-20.
    5. Malin Jonell & Beatrice Crona & Kelsey Brown & Patrik Rönnbäck & Max Troell, 2016. "Eco-Labeled Seafood: Determinants for (Blue) Green Consumption," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(9), pages 1-19, September.
    6. Merja Halme & Kari Linden & Kimmo Kääriä, 2009. "Patients’ Preferences for Generic and Branded Over-the-Counter Medicines," The Patient: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research, Springer;International Academy of Health Preference Research, vol. 2(4), pages 243-255, December.
    7. Mahan, Joseph E. & Seo, Won Jae & Jordan, Jeremy S. & Funk, Daniel, 2015. "Exploring the impact of social networking sites on running involvement, running behavior, and social life satisfaction," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 182-192.
    8. O'Cass, A., 2000. "An assessment of consumers product, purchase decision, advertising and consumption involvement in fashion clothing," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 21(5), pages 545-576, October.
    9. Eunae Jung & Hyungun Sung, 2017. "The Influence of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Outbreak on Online and Offline Markets for Retail Sales," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-23, March.
    10. Smith, Andrew N. & Fischer, Eileen & Yongjian, Chen, 2012. "How Does Brand-related User-generated Content Differ across YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter?," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 102-113.
    11. Kautish, Pradeep & Paço, Arminda & Thaichon, Park, 2022. "Sustainable consumption and plastic packaging: Relationships among product involvement, perceived marketplace influence and choice behavior," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    12. Nitin Walia & Mark Srite & Wendy Huddleston, 2016. "Eyeing the web interface: the influence of price, product, and personal involvement," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 297-333, September.
    13. Paul Baginski & Christoph Weber, 2017. "A Consumer Decision-making Process? Unfolding Energy Efficiency Decisions of German Owner-occupiers," EWL Working Papers 1708, University of Duisburg-Essen, Chair for Management Science and Energy Economics, revised Aug 2017.
    14. Yi-Hsiu Lin & Chen-Yueh Chen & Yen-Kuang Lin & Chen-Yin Lee & Chia-Yi Cheng, 2023. "Effects of Online Video Sport Spectatorship on the Subjective Well-Being of College Students: The Moderating Effect of Sport Involvement," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-11, March.
    15. Bruneau, Virginie & Swaen, Valérie & Zidda, Pietro, 2018. "Are loyalty program members really engaged? Measuring customer engagement with loyalty programs," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 144-158.
    16. Ahrholdt, Dennis C. & Gudergan, Siegfried P. & Ringle, Christian M., 2019. "Enhancing loyalty: When improving consumer satisfaction and delight matters," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 18-27.
    17. Zhang, Yicong & Guo, Xiaoling, 2023. "“New and old†: Consumer evaluations of co-branding between new brands and Chinese time-honored brands," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    18. Puccinelli, Nancy M. & Goodstein, Ronald C. & Grewal, Dhruv & Price, Robert & Raghubir, Priya & Stewart, David, 2009. "Customer Experience Management in Retailing: Understanding the Buying Process," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 85(1), pages 15-30.
    19. Xu, Yingjiao & Summers, Teresa A. & Belleau, Bonnie D., 2004. "Who buys American alligator?: Predicting purchase intention of a controversial product," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 57(10), pages 1189-1198, October.
    20. Daniel Hoppe, 2021. "Argument-Based Versus Emotion-Based Videos During the Early Stages of Recruitment: Effects on Perceived Employer Brand Image, Application Intentions, and Positive Word-of-Mouth," Corporate Reputation Review, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 24(1), pages 31-47, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:14:p:8550-:d:861783. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.